Sarah vs the Phantom Retcon
by MyNameIsJeffNImLost
Summary: Missing flashback scenes from Chuck vs the Baby. It makes sense now. Well, hopefully it does. Don't worry, no Jar Jar in this one.


This story is intended to provide a plausible explanation for a few minor, misinterpreted plot holes in Chuck Versus the Baby, showing that they were not necessarily retcons. Since this is fanfiction, this is not canon, just like other assumptions about Sarah's mission to Burbank back in 2007. I tried to keep this canon-compatible. If you don't agree with this story line or simply don't buy it, that's ok. But if I got a fact from the actual show wrong, let me know and I'll try to fix it. However, if it's just an inconsistency with a commonly accepted assumption about the show that isn't actually on screen, I'm probably not changing it.

If you want to read a more direct explanation of various plot holes and false retcons in Chuck vs. the Baby, see my posts at the chuckthisblog on wordpress. Thanks to atcDave, ArmySFC, and others there. I know ArmySFC doesn't agree with a lot of my ideas here, but my friendly debates with him really got my creative and critical thinking juices flowing.

For a fluffier, feel-good story, see my other episode addition, _Sarah's Mom vs Sarah Family_.

Disclaimer: Nobody else owns anything here, so why would I?

Disclaimer 2: No beta. Why would I sucker/obligate/subject anyone into reading this when they didn't want to? However, if you send me corrections, I'll fix them.

_6 Jan 2012_

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><p><strong>Washington, D.C.<strong>

**13 September 2007**

**8pm Eastern Daylight Time**

* * *

><p>Sarah checked the time on her phone again. A half hour. That did it. He wasn't late. She'd been stood up.<p>

Bryce Freaking Larkin stood her up, the rat bastard.

Sarah didn't know how many more chances she was going to give that guy. If she were honest with herself, though, this type of thing was new.

Most of their problems were because of missions. The CIA was still a boys club. That's why she was put on the ill-conceived CAT Squad. That's what got her drafted into secret service detail during the last election. They want the attractive protectors on the campaign trail. (Thank goodness it wasn't the Clinton years. Even if the rumors were false, she didn't need the stigma.) And that's why Bryce always was "in charge" of their Anderson missions.

Their mission handler normally assumed Bryce was the senior agent in their partnership, despite her three additional years of CIA experience and ten more years learning skills she used regularly in her work. Even when a handler wasn't involved, Bryce normally claimed that foreigners would assume the man was in charge, so he'd take the lead. That would be fine, if he wasn't such an arrogant jerk about it. When she was on a solo mission with a handler, it was even worse. Most of the handlers would hit on her, would treat her like a dumb blonde while holding back mission objectives, or would do both.

The only missions that she felt any semblance of control over were the ones that came straight from Director Graham. He recruited her, so he knew what she was capable of. He often let her call the shots in the field. Sometime soon, she needed to have a discussion with Graham about changing her role in missions on a more regular basis.

Her phone rang. It was her mom again, so Sarah hit decline. The last thing she needed right now was to mope to her mom about how she had been stood up. Why was she still with this guy?

At least with Bryce around, the handlers were less handsy. That still didn't prevent their last mission in Syria from being a disaster. Bryce was captured because he was made doing surveillance. Bryce's excuse never made sense to Sarah. She was a 5'9" blonde in Syria, and she wasn't made. Sarah had to fight through at least ten guys to rescue him, retrieve the USB drive, and complete the mission. Somehow, Bryce seemed to get most of the credit during the debriefing. It made her wonder how he embellished his mission reports. He got two weeks off to recover from his injuries while Sarah got stuck with sleazy handlers for two more missions.

That mission was in the past now, so Sarah was trying (unsuccessfully) to forget it. Normally Bryce and she did really well outside of missions. They would just relax and decompress. She could pretend they were a normal couple. Their time away from the CIA and missions was probably the only reason she put up with him on missions.

Despite their frequent partnership, they were often assigned to separate missions, so they did not get time off together very often. She really looked forward to it. He liked to joke that she looked forward to it so much because she loved him. She didn't know if that was true. Part of her thought love should be something more than what they had, but the other part of her thought maybe what they had was all a trained assassin like her deserved.

Her phone rang again: secure call.

"Bryce, where the hell are you?" Sarah barked into the phone.

"Agent Walker. This is Director Graham's office." It was Peter, Graham's stiff but efficient assistant. "The director has cancelled your leave and needs you to report immediately."

"I'll be there in twenty," Sarah replied before hanging up. She threw down a twenty to cover her unfinished drink and left.

She wondered what this was about. Maybe a good mission from Graham was just the pick-me-up she needed. Fortunately, she was already packed.

Or maybe Graham was going to tell her Bryce was dead. It would serve him right for standing her up.

* * *

><p><strong>Washington, D.C.<strong>

**13 September 2007**

**9pm Eastern Daylight Time**

* * *

><p>She would be perfect, Ryker thought. He placed a quick call to check in with his hit team that was standing by in Budapest. They would eliminate the parents and their security team tomorrow night. Little did they know, this CIA agent he drafted would be eliminating them.<p>

Ryker had seen her file. She had a father in prison, had broken up the infamous CAT Squad because she couldn't get along with them, and at the present even seemed to be mad at her frequent partner and rumored boyfriend, Bryce Larkin. Graham had shut her down pretty quickly when she started to ask about him. Agent Walker didn't argue a bit. She's a good little soldier and would follow his orders.

He had also read her mission report from Syria. If she could do that, she was exactly the weapon he needed. Why use three agents when he could just use Sarah Walker? One agent would be easier to manipulate and fool than three. If she figured it out and didn't play ball, one agent would be easier to kill than three.

He had to admit she was incredibly beautiful. Under different circumstances, he might make a play for her himself. But this mission required his full attention. No time for funny business. This was his long term retirement package. Sarah wouldn't be around as long.

He had to hurry to the airport. Agent Walker would be waiting for him.

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere over the Atlantic<strong>

**13 September 2007**

**10:30pm Eastern Daylight Time**

* * *

><p>Sarah was annoyed. The meeting was Graham was not what she expected. Instead of a good solo mission, she had been assigned yet another handler. This one checked her out (who didn't), but at least he seemed more interested in the mission objectives than her personal attributes.<p>

In the meeting, she tried to ask when Bryce was returning to active duty, but Graham wasn't listening. It probably wasn't her best idea to ask with Ryker in the room. This mission seemed to be time sensitive.

After she got out of the meeting and turned her phone back on, she noticed she had another call from her mom, this time with a message, but no message from Bryce. Too late now. She'd have to listen to her mom's message when she was back on the ground.

Sarah looked back to her Hungarian phrasebook. She figured she could still get by, but it wouldn't hurt to brush up a little.

* * *

><p><strong>Budapest, Hungary<strong>

**14 September 2007**

**10:00pm Central European Summer Time**

* * *

><p>Sarah had never had a mission go so far sideways. It was worse than the Pakistan mission with Carina when they were in the CAT Squad. Graham might have his suspicions, but he was letting Sarah get away with it. Officially, the baby was missing.<p>

Sarah had a few days before she had to be back in D.C. On a broken mission like this one, the CIA knew she would have to take back routes to return to D.C. Common wisdom would make Ryker think she would leave town immediately. His allies would be watching every way out of the city. They'd never suspect her to stay twenty-four hours. With luck, they would think she was already gone. A delay would throw them off so she could sneak out tomorrow night.

Staying in town would also give Sarah some time to set up a few things. Her European money contact could set up a secret trust for the baby. Sarah could also buy more supplies and a proper disguise for their escape and journey.

Once out of town, she'd rent a small prop plane and use a crop duster runway to fly to Krakow. That was one of the nice things about Europe. In the countryside, they were friendly and helpful to foreigners who knew the language. The baby would help her cover. If she were lucky, someone would taxi her to Poland for free.

She knew a black-market tech guy there who could help with the next part of her plan. He owed her a favor for eliminating some Russian mob-affiliated debt collectors. She wanted a special rattle constructed which could store the account number inside. He could insert a cold war era emergency transmission receiver. The frequency would not be expected in suburban California. It would go unnoticed.

In three days, she should be on a commercial plane in Warsaw, heading for the states. Fortunately she had her Polish passport with her. She'd have to get one forged for the baby. Later that day, she'd see her mom. She'd catch the red eye and be back to D.C. by Tuesday, the 18th.

Sarah knew her mom wanted to see her. She was going to be surprised. Sarah didn't want to think about how her visit would break her mother's heart.

* * *

><p><strong>Washington, D.C.<strong>

**18 September 2007**

**11pm Eastern Daylight Time**

* * *

><p>This had not been a good week for the CIA. Ryker's greed-driven rogue mission was bad enough, but at least his protégé was there mitigate the damage.<p>

This one was a complete disaster.

Graham knew the rumors that the 'Andersons' were a little more involved than just a cover. Larkin and Sarah always completed their missions, so he really didn't care what they did in their off hours. In their last briefing, Sarah was suspicious something was up with Bryce. At the time Graham dismissed it as a lovers' spat. A destroyed government supercomputer was not a spat. It was treason.

Fortunately, Sarah got back in town that morning. Some might think it was suspicious timing, but Graham wasn't worried. She'd pass her mandatory lie detector test, which he knew was ridiculous because she could lie and still pass it. Then she'd be ready to go. He knew she was loyal, and he needed someone he could trust. The fact that Sarah would be trying to prove herself would be an especially strong motivator for what he had in mind.

There was a small window if his plan were going to work. The Intersect data could be gone, but then again, it might not. Bryce's handheld was the key. Graham had used his authority to get the device for a few hours under the guise of it being CIA property with data that might need to be scrubbed. It only bought him a couple hours until someone with more authority ordered it back in the hands of the NSA tech team. Hopefully that would be all he needed. If his team found what they needed, the device would be returned to the NSA with no fuss.

Once Sarah was on the mission, she'd have at least a few hours of a head start on whomever the NSA sent. If they were lucky, they might even get a day. If Sarah got the prize first, Graham would have the biggest chip in the intelligence game. The two black marks of this week would not matter.

* * *

><p><strong>Washington, D.C.<strong>

**19 September 2007**

**2:45am Eastern Daylight Time**

* * *

><p>Sarah waited outside of the Director's office, a little pensive. During the Hungary mission, she had forgotten completely about Bryce. When she got back into town this morning, she remembered their broken date, so she half expected one of those grand gestures Bryce used to apologize. She was surprised to find her apartment exactly how she left it.<p>

She had stayed in her apartment, getting caught up on email and generally decompressing. Five hours ago she was ordered to report immediately for a security check.

At first, she feared they knew about the baby. Then she realized it was probably just because Ryker went rogue. She was not expecting all of the questions about Bryce.

About twenty minutes into the two hour interrogation, she figured out Bryce had gone rogue. That really pissed her off. She didn't need him jeopardizing her career. She had nowhere else to go. About an hour into the interrogation, the questions changed enough that she realized Bryce was dead. There were a few questions at the end about her Hungary mission, and no questions about the "package." Bryce's treason was a bigger deal than Ryker's misdeeds.

She passed the test with flying colors. She didn't even have to lie.

She waited in reception for over two hours. About an hour ago, she had been given a quick summary memo about what Bryce had done. If she hadn't been mad at Bryce before he died, she'd be mad at the dead traitor now.

Times like this made Sarah relieved her heart was so closed off. Maybe she would deal with her repressed feelings at his funeral. No. She used up her emotional quota this month with her mom and the baby.

One thing was for certain. After Ryker and Bryce, Sarah was not going to be manipulated by anyone anymore.

"Director will see you now," Peter told her. She confidently entered his office.

* * *

><p><strong>Burbank, California<strong>

**19 September 2007**

**11am Pacific Daylight Time**

* * *

><p>Sarah looked at the outside of the electronics store and collected her thoughts for the mission.<p>

Less than twelve hours ago, she gave the Director her first ultimatum. She wasn't as assertive as she meant to be, but Graham easily agreed. Maybe she should have tried rejecting handlers a long time ago.

Graham seemed to be worried she would wash out. She realized he didn't know her as well as she thought. Where would she go if she left the CIA? Even if she could leave and had someplace to go under normal circumstances, now would be the worst time to leave. It would make her look complicit with Bryce. It also might tip someone to the fact that the baby was alive.

Reading the mission assignment file on the plane, Sarah learned Bryce was shot by a burned out NSA assassin, Major John Casey. He had quite the reputation. Sarah was glad someone like that did it. She didn't know if she loved Bryce. She just knew they were a lot alike, and she had moments of happiness with him. But she didn't know if she could've pulled the trigger on him herself.

Sarah shook her head back to the present. She was the handler for this assignment. It was her job to find out how this Chuck was connected to Bryce and what he knows about the Intersect. She would decide how to handle the mission objectives. No "go-here-and-shoot-everyone" on this mission.

The final email was sent to an old college friend of Bryce from before he was an agent. He never mentioned this person, but Sarah wasn't surprised by that. Who would mention a coconspirator to their CIA agent girlfriend? She didn't know much about Bryce's past. Bryce knew Sarah's dad was a conman because of something that came up in a mission, but even he didn't know her mom was alive. Maybe that's a sign they were never in love. Sarah never once wanted to introduce Bryce to her mom. Now, because of Ryker, no one she knew would ever meet her.

Her mom and the baby were safe. That's the important thing. Hopefully Ryker would never think to search for marriage licenses and divorce filings on Jack Burton's known aliases. As long as he doesn't know she exists, that shouldn't be a problem.

Sarah really needed to focus. The mark was a computer repairman named Chuck. His goofy smile was a little cute, and he was tall. She didn't know if this mark would be an asset or if he would be a hostile enemy, although the latter seemed unlikely based on the profile. He almost seemed like a nice guy. He might have been an unwitting accomplice. Sarah would have to handle him carefully. This guy was a computer expert, so there was a chance his computers contained information about what Bryce's goals were or even information about this Intersect.

Right as Sarah walked into the Buy More her phone rang: secure call. That would be Peter. Sarah groaned internally. Graham might be letting her be the mission handler, but he was still micromanaging. She decided that was ok for now as she answered the phone. At least she knew she could trust Graham. She was done with middlemen with their own agendas.

"Walker."

"The Director asked me to check your progress. He's taken a strong interest in this mission." He sounded apologetic. Maybe he was developing a crush.

"I'm at the mark's location now. The car rental place doesn't hurry when you rent a Porsche."

Peter actually chuckled at that comment. Maybe he wasn't that stiff. Sarah didn't really think what she said was that funny, though. She hoped he didn't start flirting. Bryce died yesterday. It'd be tacky.

Speaking of her Porsche, this one was a little cleaner than the one she rented just a couple days ago. She liked how both cars handled. She'd have to see if she could get one from the D.C. motor pool when this mission completed. If Graham really wanted to keep her, maybe he'd pull some strings after a successful mission.

"_So you think this kid's got the Intersect?" _Sarah asked.

"_That's right, Agent Walker. He's connected to Bryce Larkin."_

"_Weaknesses?_" she asked. She knew what the file said, but it didn't hurt to get another assessment. They might have gathered more information.

"_Bright, but an underachiever. Lonely. Had his heart broken recently."_

Recently? That was five years ago. This is nothing she hadn't figured out.

"_I'm downloading his picture now."_

This was a waste of time. She already had his picture from the file. Even she knew Peter was 'uploading' the photo. Sarah was the one 'downloading.' Time to end this call.

"_Piece of cake."_

Sarah put on a friendly smile, hid her CIA burner phone, and grabbed the other phone in her pocket. She acquired it from the CIA tech guy on the plane. The poor guy kept getting his tongue tied and didn't know where to look. The mark was a computer expert, so they had to make sure her prop wouldn't trace back to the CIA.

As she walked up to the counter she heard, "Vicki Vale, Vic-a-Vicki Vale." What was that supposed to mean?


End file.
